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Metric rocks London with old and new hits

Haines supplies contagious energy from beginning to end of brief show
October 26, 2009
By Lauren Moore

Fans lucky enough to get their hands on a ticket were entertained from start to finish as Canadian indie-rock band Metric played a sold-out performance at Centennial Hall on Friday night.

Opening with a decent performance by Montreal band The Stills, Metric delivered an awesome show worthy of satisfying every die-hard fan in the building.

Although The Stills have their own loyal fan-base, few people caught the opening act. The band delivered a good, but slightly mundane performance. They lacked the song diversity needed to derive attention from audience members.

A dramatic increase in bodies after the opening act demonstrated one thing in particular — people were at the concert for Metric.

The band began the show with “Twilight Galaxy.” A track off of the their latest album, Fantasies, it was a captivating start to the set that showed off the vocal talents of lead singer Emily Haines.

Dressed in a fringed top with suspenders, Haines captured the audience’s attention from the second she approached her keyboard. Her effortlessly cool demeanor carried through until the show’s end.

With few deviations from their sing along-friendly tunes, audience members eagerly followed Haines’ magnetic lead through every number.

As the show progressed, Haines kept spectators pumped by providing an impressive example. With her clear voice, nimble frame and constant switch between the tambourine and keyboard, Haines’ alluring energy could have kept the crowd cheering until dawn. Whether crowd surfing or sweating up a storm dancing, the audience’s enthusiasm couldn’t have been more obvious. Although some spectators were justifiably tired from dancing so vigorously from the get-go, smooth song transitions ignited an excitement that distracted from any exhaustion in audience members.

A minimalist set kept the focus away from aesthetics and on the performance. Slight graphic changes on the background screen adjusted to suit the feel of each song, merely emphasizing the ambience produced by each song.

The show was brief but dynamic. Overall, the sound of each song was true to its album recording with an even greater emphasis on percussion. This was particularly evident during the drum-heavy hit “Help, I’m Alive” when it felt like all of Centennial Hall was shaking to the song’s beat.

Hardcore Metric fans may have been slightly disappointed by the focus on Fantasies over other albums in their set list. However, tracks from Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? and Live It Out, like “Dead Disco” and “Empty” filled the void for Metric’s older raw sound.

Metric ended the night with an encore, playing a stripped-down version of “Combat Baby” that left the audience with a resonating sense of conclusion.

Although Metric could have easily extended the concert by an hour and still maintained high enthusiasm from the audience, guests left the concert with an undeniable satisfaction that can only be experienced after witnessing a class-act performance.

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